


Dream

by tritonsvixen (orphan_account)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-10 11:43:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4390568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/tritonsvixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometime between the first and second Maze Runner books, Thomas is whisked away to Camp Half Blood. Percy finds him at the top of Half Blood Hill. We go from there.</p><p>Also, nobody is dead and 90% of Apollo's Cabin shows up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dream

**Author's Note:**

> This took me a lot longer than it should have to finish. I hope you enjoy it! Percy is a bit older than he is in the books here, as it's set some years after the Blood of Olympus and everyone has just begun to settle down.

First of all, this isn’t even Percy’s fault. How the hell was he supposed to know that where Thomas comes from, it’s not unusual to sleep in the same bed – well, it’s not really unusual at Camp Half Blood either, Percy’s seen boys and girls slipping into other cabins all the time, but, y’know, they aren’t actually sleeping. Thomas has completely forgone the other bed with its nest of blankets in order to curl up next to him.

As it is, Percy’s awake, his left leg is completely numb, and Thomas is a warm drooling mess in his arms. Thomas has also stolen all of the covers, and it isn’t exactly winter, but Percy likes the weight of a duvet over him. It’s comforting.

He has Percy’s leg sandwiched between his thighs (his bare thighs – Percy tells himself to shut up) and it’s effectively the only part of his body that’s actually warm. What sort of parent builds a cabin for their kids with more curtains than fucking walls?

“Thomas?” he tries. “Thomas, wake up.”

Thomas shuffles briefly, scrubs his cheek against Percy’s pillow, and tucks himself into a smaller ball, pulling Percy’s leg into an even more unnatural angle. To make things worse, his slack mouth is now pressed against Percy’s bicep.

Percy stares at the wooden ceiling and tries to pretend he can go to sleep like this.

No, no, he definitely can’t. Percy tries a different approach, trying to yank his arm out from underneath Thomas’ face and neck. It’s working, until he’s sliding his hand out and Thomas rolls so that he’s face down, which would be fine, except that Percy unintentionally winds up with three fingers in Thomas’ mouth.

 Percy screams, and Thomas jerks awake - coughing and spluttering.

“What the hell, dude!” Thomas yells, shoving at Percy’s chest, “What the fuck are you doing?”

“You were laying on my arm! I was just – I didn’t mean to!” Thomas is wiping his mouth off frantically, grimacing.

“Fucking gross. Don’t you people – I dunno – shake people awake? Is that a thing here? Did you have to freaking finger my mouth?” Percy scowls, but Thomas is already grinning.

“Whatever,” Percy rolls his eyes. “Get off my leg. I can’t feel it.” He clarifies.

Thomas smiles, smacks his palm against Percy’s chest – lightly this time, and lifts enough for Percy to disentangle his thigh. Oh, thank God, he thinks.

Thomas bounces against the mattress when he flumps down on his side, facing away from Percy. He does leave Percy significantly more duvet though, and there’s enough that

Percy doesn’t actually have to press backwards until their shoulders are touching, but he does anyway. Thomas doesn’t move away, so he figures it’s cool.

“Sorry,” he starts, “I was just trying to get my arm free, honest.”

“Don’ worry about it, Perce,” Thomas drawls sleepily, “Woken up to weirder.”

“Mm. Same,” Percy says, punches his pillow a couple of times, and then flops down and into sleep.

# # #

He wakes up at the crack of dawn, wondering what the hell woke him. Eyes closed, Percy rolls onto his front, splaying his limbs out.

“Getting comfy?”

“Thomas?” Percy says, blinks his eyes open and licks at his dry mouth. “What are you doing up? It’s only – “ He looks at his alarm clock, and no, that can’t be right. No way.

“Thomas, it’s not even 6AM.”

“The sun’s up, dude,” Thomas says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Percy elects to lay down and pull the duvet up around his ears.

“Percy, c’mon.”

“6AM, Thomas. Go back to bed.”

Percy feels the mattress shift as Thomas climbs onto it.

“Get up,” Thomas commands.

“Fuck off,” Percy growls.

Thomas shifts around, and Percy hopes he’s getting under the duvet or something.

“Don’t you camp kids have to get up early anyhow?”

“Not this early,” Percy grits out. “Around 8, usually.” Thomas sighs heavily.

“Fine, fine.”

Percy lifts up the duvet enough for Thomas to slide back in and hums contentedly when he rests his head on Percy’s shoulder. It’s nice and warm, and the first trickles of dawn pouring through the white curtains is relaxing, rather that irritating.

So of course Thomas can’t get comfortable.

“Will you quit it,” Percy moans after Thomas rolls from his back to his front to his side for the umpteenth time.

“I can’t help it! I have to get up and do something!”

“I’ll do you in a second,” Percy mutters, and immediately regrets it. Thomas sits up suddenly, and oh god, he’s done it now. Thomas is not Jason. He’s not like Will either. Percy knows he can’t just – say – things like he can to them. He rolls over, and Thomas is looking down at him, sunlight streaming through the open window and just barely highlighting the edge of his jaw and the tendons in his throat. Percy swallows. Thomas doesn’t look mad but, y’know, talking about your bisexuality is all well and good in the camp, but outside? Nah.

“What?” Thomas says, looking utterly confused, and damn, Percy shouldn’t even be trying it on with this boy.

“Chill out, man, I was kidding, right?” Percy laughs, and a shadow flickers over Thomas’ face for a second before he’s laughing too, leaning in to punch Percy’s shoulder.

“You ass,” He snorts.

“I know you are, but what am I?” Percy shoots back. Thomas groans.

“How old are you anyway?”

Percy grins. “Old enough for your mom.”

Thomas yells and beats at him with a pillow, but it’s just playing, and it’s so normal that Percy hadn’t even realised he missed this - missed the playful shoves and the back-and-forth circling fights. Percy fights back, but gently. So far as they know, Thomas seems to just be a mortal without issues with the mist, and a demigod could do serious damage to a mortal, even accidentally.

“You are so gross,” Thomas says. And without missing a beat, “Well, you’re awake now. Wanna go for a walk?”

“Sneaky,” Percy smiles. “Yeah, just let me get changed.”

He throws on some sweats and a tank top semi-buried under a pile of socks and finds some worn-out sneakers under the bed, and they’re ready. It’s late spring, so it’s pretty warm, even in the mornings, and the ocean is still milky under the rising sun.

“Is there anywhere you wanna go?” He asks.

Thomas shrugs. “I dunno, I’ve only been here three days.” He looks out at the water for a moment, and the sunrise catches him like fire. Hephaestus, Percy thinks, suddenly, but

Thomas might not even be a demigod and god, this is hard to think about. “Is there anywhere you like? Wait, never mind, Poseidon, right? You like it here, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess. I mean, there’s other places that’re nice too, but we could walk along the beach? If you’d like,” He adds.

Thomas fakes a swoon, before he shoves him gently.

“You love it,” Is the instinctive response, and Thomas just blinks at him; smile curling at the edges of his mouth before he turns back to the water.

They fall into step easily; companionable silence stretched between them, interrupted only by the whisper of waves against the sand. After a little while, Thomas stops and removes his shoes, hand curled over Percy’s bicep for balance. His fingers and palms are so rough, and it strikes Percy that he knows next to nothing about this wild boy that stumbled through the barrier. Well, Thomas doesn’t seem too excited to divulge his whole life story, and Percy isn’t gonna press him.

“Whoa,” Thomas says, “The water’s like, warmish.” He steps into it with less trepidation until the surf is rolling over the tops of his feet, holding the hems of his pants up.

“That’s what the pizza delivery guy said too.”

“Who?”

“Long story,” Percy says. “Mortal dude’s GPS got way fucked, basically.”

“Huh.”

Percy toes off his sneakers and rolls his sweatpants up so he can walk beside Thomas, relishing the energy burst the ocean gives him.

They walk a while longer, until Thomas says, “I wish we had a dog.”

“What?”

“Like, to play fetch with and stuff.”

“Well, there’s Mrs O’Leary, I guess.”

“Mrs O’Leary?”

“Hellhound.”

“Oh.” And then, “Fuck, honestly, can’t you just have Labradors or something?”

Percy laughs at that. “I guess? Some kids have pets. It’s mostly cats though. Blame Hecate’s cabin.”

“Spooky,” Thomas says.

“You’re a baby.”

“At least I don’t wake people up by stimulating their gag reflex.”

“Touché,” They both giggle at that.

One of Cabin 7’s girls jogs past them – Vicky or something – and Percy waves at her as she goes by. She waves back, before pulling an earphone out and calling, “Boys, you won’t make it to breakfast if you don’t turn back! It’s waffles!”

“Thanks!” Percy yells back, and she waves again, running off towards the Big House.

“Dude,” Thomas says, “Does like, everyone know you?”

“Yeah, you’re basically hanging with demigod royalty.” Percy snickers, “Nah, they’re just friendly, is all. I guess part of it’s my Dad? Big Three, and all that. I did some important quests when I was a kid too. But Camp’s pretty companionable anyhow.”

“Modest,” Thomas says. Percy hip-clocks him.

The walk back is mostly silent, and Thomas waits outside the cabin for Percy to get a towel so they can dry their feet. By the time they get to the central pavilion for breakfast, there’s a fair amount of kids wandering around blearily. Chiron is there too, stamping his hooves and looking around. Once he spots them he canters over.

“Percy, Thomas,” He greets urgently, “I’m going to need Thomas to come to the Big House.”

“What? What for?” Thomas says.

“Yeah,” agrees Percy, “He hasn't had breakfast yet.”

“He can have breakfast at the Big House, Percy.” Chiron chides. “This is very important.” Thomas shrugs at him.

“Okay. Well, see ya.”

“Yeah.” Thomas looks a little scared as he walks away with Chiron, and he glances over his shoulder at Percy a few times before they vanish behind the hedges.

Chiron won’t do anything to hurt Thomas though, and while Dionysus remains detached, Percy knows (hopes) that deep down, he actually does care about the kids under his protection. Still, Percy can’t help but feel a little worried. At worst, Thomas will have his blood taken for some ritual spell and be interrogated again.  
Percy knows he shouldn’t, but he honestly believes that Thomas isn’t a threat. He’s gentle, even though he pretends not to be, and he reminds Percy of a younger, wilder version of himself. It’s not like with Luke, who was overly friendly and consumed all of Percy’s attention. There isn’t the same chill in Thomas’ eyes, though he looks hurt – older sometimes.

He’s standing there, frowning vaguely at the flowering hedges, when Jason attempts to sneak up on him. Percy whirls around, catching Jason’s fist, which is full of dust and twigs.

“Don’t you dare dump that down my shirt, dude.”

Jason grins. “I was going to put it down your pants, but okay.” Percy slaps the dirt out of Jason’s hand and shoves him roughly.

“What the hell, man!” Percy yells, and then, “Is that my shirt? It is. You stole my shirt.”

“What, it’s nice. I figured you would just think you lost it in that mess you call a cabin.”

“I have a system. I know exactly where everything is.”

“Yeah, on the floor.”

Percy snorts. “Whatever. I’m hungry.”

Jason laughs, slings an arm over Percy’s shoulder and presses his thumb against the pressure point at the back of his neck. Percy smiles and leans into it, reaching up to dig his fingers into Jason’s messy bedhead when Jason presses their temples together.

“You’re always hungry,” he murmurs.

“Shut up.” Percy pulls away, grinning. He starts walking towards the covered area where the tables are, Jason jogging a few steps before they’re side-by-side. Percy tags a peeling blue pillar, saying, “I win.”

Jason snorts. “You suck.” A few nearby boys from Athena’s cabin roll their eyes.

“Sore loser, is all. I’m going to eat, see you later?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure. You’ve gotta tell me all about that weird kid, too.”

“He’s not weird.” Percy says, feeling oddly defensive, “He’s nice. He likes the beach.”

“Is that your criteria now? ‘He likes the beach.’ Piper is gonna love this.”

“Get lost.” Jason shakes his head and bumps his fist against Percy’s, then jogs off to where Reyna is signing rapidly to a younger kid, who’s smiling eagerly and signing so fast Percy can barely see her hands.

# # #

Feeling a little sick after the amount of waffles he’s eaten, Percy decides to walk up to the big house to see if Thomas is out yet. It’s getting warmer, and the perfume from the jasmine and wisteria makes the walkway feel like a different world. He comes out into the courtyard, and sits on the edge of the fountain. It’s bubbling a little sporadically – its old, and hasn’t been cleaned in a while, but Percy is not sticking his hand in any part of it. Rule one of Camp Half Blood, don’t stick your hands where you can’t see where you’re putting them. Regardless, Percy drags a few of his fingers through the surface of the water, chases the small fish that live in the pool and lets them nibble on his fingertips.

He waits for maybe ten minutes, helps one of Aiolos’ sons disentangle a windchime, and is wondering if he should just go knock and see if Thomas can come out yet, when the door swings open. Dionysus storms out, hurls his coke can with incredible force – Percy watches it fly off towards Apollo’s and Demeter’s cabins – stomps in a circle and throws his hands up towards the sky, presumably at Zeus. Percy leans back until he’s mostly hidden behind the fountain.

Dionysus stays in the same spot for a while, rocking on the balls of his feet. Percy can see him counting under his breath.

Abruptly, he turns and walks back up to the Big House and vanishes inside. Percy exhales and peeks out. All of the curtains are closed so he can’t see inside, but that’s not unusual, and there hasn’t been any shouting since he sat down, so Thomas is likely completely okay. It doesn’t stop Percy from worrying.

He grabs a handful of leaves and begins systematically tearing them in half, and then into quarters, and then into eighths, drumming his feet as he does so. Alright, he’s bored, and it’s difficult for him to maintain attention for long periods of time. Across the yard, Miranda and one of her brothers are tending to a few drooping hyacinths, watering them and nudging at the petals until they perk up. Percy watches them with interest.

Miranda frowns and cuts a flower off at the stem, pointing something out to her young sibling – teaching him. Percy kicks his heels against the stone edge of the fountain. She looks up and waves over at him a minute later, and Percy waves back. Miranda bends to say something to her brother, tucking stray hair behind her ears and smearing dirt on her face in the process. He hands her the blossom and she jogs over.

“Hi,” she says, grinning broadly.

“Hey. How are you?”

“Good, good, y’know how it is. One kid leaves for Camp Jupiter and three more take their place.”

Percy laughs. “Well, I wouldn’t really know. He seems nice, though.”

“She.” Miranda says sharply. “She’s Reilly.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know.” Percy feels his face go hot.

“It’s okay. She wants to grow her hair out so she can do the little Amazonian braids – wait, what am I saying?” Miranda waves the blossom at him. “Here. You can play with this if you want, it wasn’t going to make it.”

“Thanks!”

“Yeah, well, Jeremy likes to pull them apart, I thought you might like it as well.”

“Jeremy?”

“Apollo’s cabin? Like really tall? He’s got all this sorta brown-reddish hair, that’s like, up at the front.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, I know him.” Percy raises his eyebrows, “So. You know him, huh?”

“Shut up.” Miranda says. “Not how you think I do.”

“Yeah, well, thanks for the flower.”

“No worries, kid.” She glances towards the Big House. “I’m sure your friend is okay, alright? Do you wanna come play Frisbee? We’re gonna verse Tyche’s Cabin.”

Percy gives her a rueful smile. “Nah, but good luck. Last time I played them the Frisbee broke my wrist.”

“Yeah, well, I asked Lee if his cabin wanted to play but the whole discus thing is surprisingly fresh for 2000 years ago. I think I sorely offended him.”

“Discus thing?”

“I’ll read it to you sometime. Language is a bit flowery, Ovid and all that.”

Percy laughs. “Sounds good. Hey, I’m sure Lee’ll get over it before he has to heal your whole team.”

“Wow. Tell us what you think, why don’t you?” Miranda growls, ruining it by laughing a second later. “Well, better go, I’ll see you around, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, go kick their asses for me.”

“You couldn’t even kick your own ass, I don’t need your advice.”

“Excuse me! Get out of here.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” She yells over her shoulder as Reilly looks back at him. She looks young, about twelve, maybe. She gives him a shy nod and Percy smiles back before they turn the corner on the walkway and are gone.

Miranda is right, it is soothing to pull each flower off the stem and then pull the individual petals off. He gets a little lost in it – the silky feel of the petals and the little pile of purple shards he’s accumulating, to the point that when Thomas sits down beside him he nearly yelps. Thomas looks more haggard than he did it the morning, but he seems fine.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, the interrogation wasn’t so bad this time. Dion – Dionisis?”

“Dionysus.”

“Uh huh, him, he got mad again. He doesn’t believe that I don’t know how I got here, which, well, I can understand ‘cause – yeah.” Thomas looks down at his lap, upset. There’s a small cut on his pointer finger that wasn’t there this morning.

“Did Chiron take your blood again?”

“Yeah. I dunno, truth magic or something. God, what the fuck is this place! Not that it’s not better, but – fucking hell.” Thomas puts his head in his hands. “Fucking hell.” Percy doesn’t know what to do, exactly, so he scoots closer until their thighs are pressed together and pulls Thomas in with an arm round over his shoulders.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.” Thomas leans against him, but otherwise doesn’t respond. Percy can feel the hitches in his breath as he cries. It’s awkward to sit there and wait for him to stop, but Percy’s had more than enough people ignore him when he was upset, and he isn’t going to do the same thing to Thomas.

Eventually, Thomas sits up and looks vaguely at the sky. His eyes are red-rimmed, but Percy just strokes his back a few times and waits it out.

“I had friends, y’know,” He says, face devoid of emotion, “I don’t know what happened to them. They could be dead.”

Percy has no idea what to say to that. ‘It’s okay’ wouldn’t cover half of that statement. He keeps his mouth shut.

“I know,” Thomas continues, “That this place isn’t as nice as you’d have me believe either. But, it’s pretty good. Everyone’s nice, you’re not too worried about anything. I can sort of ignore the whole, uh, Greek god thing.” Percy grimaces. “I guess – I dunno. I think I feel really guilty for leaving them.”

“You didn’t mean to leave, though, it’s not your fault.”

“I never said it made sense.” Thomas snaps. “They were my best friends. They were so good to me, through everything. That’s how I know I’m not dead, see? This place could be heaven – that’s what I thought when I walked over that hill and saw it – all the green, just, open. No walls. But they aren’t here. So it can’t be.” He’s started to cry again. Percy feels so fucking bad for him, has felt bad about it since Thomas crawled over Half Blood Hill, and worse that he doesn’t know what to say or do. He gently encourages Thomas into a tight hug, giving him time to pull back if it isn’t welcome. Thomas just sighs and nestles into the touch. Percy pets the hair at the base of his neck until Thomas’ breathing evens out.

Thomas leans back out just as Percy’s starting to get a bit antsy about sitting still for so long, and he looks a lot better. He pulls his shirt sleeves over his hands and scrubs at his face, and when he reappears Percy tries to smile reassuringly at him.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. So, did you get breakfast?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, grapes and bread and like, soft cheese. It was good.” Thomas brightens immediately, glad of the change in topic.

“Oh, dude, no way, I can’t believe you didn’t get waffles. That’s a travesty.”

“I’m sure I’ll live. C’mon, you wanna go do something? I don’t want to stick around. Dio – uh, Mr. D? Might come back. Not looking forward to that.”

 Percy snorts. “No one does. So, do you want to go for a walk again or maybe, hang out with some people, play a game or something?”

“Um, I’m okay with talking to people, I guess. A game of something sounds good, too.”

“Cool,” Percy grins, “I know someone who’s been dying to meet you.”

# # #

“Hey,” Jason says, “Andy’s getting thrashed out there.”

Percy shrugs, unsurprised. “I told her. What’s the score?” Thomas is curiously looking out at the field, but he doesn’t look concerned, just interested.

“No idea, haven’t been here long. Isn’t looking good though.” Jason squeezes Percy’s side by way of greeting, and then leans round to address Thomas. “Hi, I’m Jason.”

“Thomas.”

“Nice to finally meet you.” Percy watches Thomas’ eyes dart down to the hand on his waist, and back up to Jason, grinning with a little too many teeth.

“Don’t be a dick, Jason.” Percy snarls, shoving him away.

“I’m just playing,” Jason laughs. “It’s gentler than what a lot of people would do.”

Across the field, Clarisse roars as two campers collide jumping for the Frisbee. Percy can understand that sentiment. Thomas is looking between them like he wishes he knew what the hell was going on.

“Jason’s been at Camp Jupiter for the last few days.”

“Oh,” Thomas says, “Another camp, that’s fine.”

“So, what’s the news? You know who your godly parent is yet?”

“No.”

“Mr. D and Chiron think he’s mortal.”

“Oh, really? There hasn’t been a mortal in here since the pizza delivery guy.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

“You think he might be Hebe?” Jason looks Thomas up and down quickly, making him shift away. “Maybe Nike, actually.”

“I’d kinda appreciate it if you would include me in this conversation.” Thomas snips.

“Sorry,” Percy says, “Just been a while since we’ve had a regular human in here.”

Thomas throws his head back and laughs, but not in a way that would suggest happiness. “Yeah, yeah. Just ‘cause you’ve got saltwater instead of blood.” He spits.

“I don’t have saltwater for blood.” Percy says, at the same time Jason goes, “I like him.”

Thomas is watching them carefully, eyes dark. His body is so tense that he looks unnaturally still, like one of Daedalus’ automatons. Percy reaches out slowly towards him, and

Thomas’ eyes track his movements the whole way until he’s curling his fingers around his forearm.

“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that.”

Thomas raises an eyebrow. “Doesn’t make it better.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, okay.” Thomas says, but he doesn’t relax completely.

“Okay?”

“Uh huh.”

Percy nods, and let’s go, turning back to the field just in time to see the miss-thrown Frisbee fly towards the crowd. A couple of Aphrodite’s kids duck, before someone from Apollo’s cabin snags it in a force field, swirls it around their body in a figure-eight, and sends it back to hover in front of Miranda for her to grab.

“Nice,” Jason says. “She’s getting meaner with those fields – can create ledges to leap off, make her hit with more force. Saw her punch out a son of Ares last week – Rob or something – biggest black eye I’ve seen in a while.”

“Maybe I should start doing that with water.”

“Eh, you’ve got physical power on your side. She’s pretty small, I think that’s why she does it.”

“Yeah, isn’t that the same with Will? He makes those shockwaves to disorient.”

Jason looks surprised. “Will? Will Solace?”

“Is there another one?”

"Dude, I haven't seen him fight in  _forever_! He manifested, right?"

"Yeah," Percy says, " Ages ago, he's usually too busy to spar as much as us. But yeah - remember he can whistle loud enough that it hurts? Apparently it doesn't stop there."

"Cool," Jason says, eyes a little glazed over.

Thomas chooses that moment to cheer directly in Percy’s ear as Miranda uses vines to snare a boy leaping for the Frisbee.

“Yeah! Come on, Andy!” Jason yells on his other side. Most of the crowd is cheering with them, and Ares cabin is just cheering because they’ll support anything violent. However, the rest of the match doesn’t go as well for Demeter’s cabin, and when time is called, it’s a big win for Tyche’s kids.

Thomas is smiling when it’s over, and he catches Percy’s wrist and says, “Lunch?”

“Yeah, we’ll head up now, beat the rush.”

Thomas surprises Percy by asking, “Jason, are you coming?” and sounding sincere about it.

Jason smacks Thomas lightly on the arm. “Nah, I’m gonna go congratulate Andy, I’ll see you around.” He pecks Percy on the cheek and nods at Thomas before he walks off into the crowd. Percy is internally praying that Thomas isn’t going to say anything about the kiss, or Jason’s familiar touches, because he’s got this strange look on his face and he’s gone tense again.

“Does everyone hate Tyche’s cabin?” is what he says instead as they climb up the hill.

“It’s not them, see, it’s their mom. She’s the goddess of fortune – luck. So they win, like, a lot.”

“So, what? They manipulate luck?”

“I don’t think it’s really like that, but I’ve never asked.”

“Mm.”

Thomas isn’t looking at him, and it’s making Percy really uncomfortable, and a bit angry. If Thomas has a problem he wishes he would just say it. Percy is not one for beating around the bush.

“Did you like Jason?” Thomas whips around to look at him and then look sharply away.

“Yeah, he was nice.” He pauses. Percy stares at him, trying to get a read. “Reminded me of someone.”

Not exactly what Percy expected, but he can roll with it. “One of your friends?”

“Yeah.” Thomas says quietly. “I don’t think I want to talk about him right now.”

“Okay,” Percy reaches out to squeeze Thomas’ wrist. “That’s fine.” Thomas smiles at him and quickly looks away again, but he doesn’t pull his arm out of Percy’s grip.

# # #

Thomas gets to sit with Percy at lunch, mostly because Hermes’ cabin is full again, but Thomas has stuck by Percy since he collapsed at the barrier while he and Mitchell were on dawn guard. Chiron has allowed it, for the most part, but Percy knows that his cabin currently has more wards on it than Hecate’s and Nemesis’ combined.

“So,” Thomas starts, “You ever met your dad?”

“Yeah, a couple of times. He doesn’t really stick around though.”

“That sounds like it kinda sucks.”

“I’m luckier than a lot of kids here. Some of them haven’t even had a conversation with their parents.”

Thomas makes a face at that, and continues picking capsicum out of his eggs.

“I think I’m supposed to go see Chiron again after this.”

Percy grimaces. “More tests?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Thomas pushes a cherry tomato around on his plate idly. “I’m kissing my blood cell count goodbye as we speak.”

“You should probably eat that then.”

“I’m not really sure about the red stuff.” Thomas scrunches his nose as he flicks another slice of pepper onto the rim of his plate.

“The capsicum? I’m not too big about it either.”

Thomas nods, shoving the last of his omelette and salad into his pita bread before wolfing it down. “What time is it now?”

Percy glances up at the clock. “Nearly two.”

“Shit, better go.”

“Want me to walk you?”

“Nah,” Thomas shrugs, scraping the remains of lunch into the bin, “I know the way.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m still in your cabin tonight, right?”

Percy smiles – claps Thomas on the shoulder. “Yeah, of course. Hey, there might be a small party down at Demeter’s later. If you’re feeling up to it, we could go?”

“Um. I’ll think about it.”

“Okay, that’s fine. We don’t have to.” Percy slides his hand down Thomas’ arm to press his thumb against the inside of his wrist. “See you later?”

Thomas nods. He’s biting his lip hard enough that it’s white under his teeth. Percy smiles gently and lets Thomas’ hand slide free. He stands there for a second, looking blank,

and then points vaguely over his shoulder a few times.

“Um. I. I’m gonna go.”

“Uh huh, meet you back at my cabin, remember?” Percy calls after him.

“I know!”

Percy watches him go, scrapes his own plate and puts it on the wash rack, and turns to come face-to-face with Jason’s knowing smirk.

“Don’t.”

Jason’s grin only grows. “He likes you, doesn’t he?” Percy sighs and shoulders him out of the way. “Hey, hey. Percy, c’mon. I’m just teasing.”

“And I told you not to, didn’t I? Look, just leave it, alright? Nothing’s going to happen.”

Jason quirks an eyebrow. “No?”

“No.” Percy growls. “You got a reason for following me?”

“Being a general annoyance, honestly.”

Percy snorts. “How unusual.”

Jason shrugs, “Hey, you going to the party later?”

“Maybe, I’m not sure if Thomas wants to go.” He shrugs. “I don’t want to make him uncomfortable.”

“Sure.” Jason shrugs. “So, how’s the whole sharing your cabin thing going?”

“Fine, I guess. He doesn’t sleep in the other bed so-“

Jason holds up his hands. “Wait. Wait. What are you telling me right now? He sleeps in your bed?”

“Jason! It isn’t like that! Look, he said he was used to sharing and-“ Jason interrupts him with hysterical laughter. Percy kicks him.

Still giggling, Jason puts on a high-pitched voice. “’Percy, can I sleep in with you, I’m cold and alone, and you’re so muscular and warm. Maybe we should sleep naked to share warmth.’ Holy shit, I can’t believe this. I can’t believe you fell for it. Wait, no, I totally one hundred percent can. I can totally believe it.”

“Fuck off. I slept with all my clothes on, thanks.”

Jason is still snicking, but he’s controlling it. “Did he keep his clothes on?”

“None of your business.”

Waggling his eyebrows, Jason says, “It’s okay, I already know your weird sexual secrets.” Across the pavilion, a group of young kids pause in conversation and look over.

Percy winces. “Okay, literally never say that again, because, dude, way creepy.”

“Creepy, yet true.”

“Still weird.”

Jason laughs, and Percy can’t help but grin. “All right, I’ll maybe see you? Possibly?”

“Maybe.” Percy says sulkily, tilts his head to look at Jason through his eyelashes. Jason shoves him.

“I know you don’t mean that.”

Percy rolls his eyes. “Whatever. You doing anything right now? I was just gonna go chill in my cabin.”

Jason shrugs noncommittally. “Uh, volleyball, I guess. I said I’d be on Jake’s team. You wanna come?”

“Nah, it’s fine. I’m not that good at volleyball anyhow.”

“Is anyone? Well, see you later then. Maybe.”

Percy nods, but Jason is already sprinting across the field.

# # #

He tries to read a Greek book on the Trojan War, but regardless of the language two pages in the words start to blur and move, so he gives up. Percy half-heartedly picks up some of his clothes and stuffs them under the bed, and then decides to go for a swim. He reckons it’ll be at least an hour before Thomas gets back anyway.

Outside, the beach is empty. Most campers have either retired to their cabins in free time, or are hanging out across the sport and training grounds. The Oceanids are more active at this time of day, and it makes some of the kids a little uncomfortable to be chittered at and teased by the water spirits. They also like to play with hair and don’t seem to understand that most demigods can’t breathe underwater, so the avoidance isn’t totally unjustified.

Percy strips off his shirt and shoes; wades in until it’s deep enough to swim, and then dives deep enough that the waves on the surface are near imperceptible. Today, it’s Hyale and Psekas that are huddled together on the sandy floor. They look to be making jewellery of some kind, but they don’t care for attention and Percy would rather not bother them. Sometimes the Potamoi come here to hang out and annoy their sisters, but there’s none today. He’s a little disappointed – they’re pretty fun – but on the whole, the less powerful beings fighting each other, the better. His cabin flooded the last time Pronoia stole an electrum bracelet from Pactolus.

He swims a little farther out, until the sun is a muted, fluttering glow and he can no longer see the bottom, just the blue expanse. It’s become habit to just come out here and drift when his concentration is all over the place and his can’t slow down his racing thoughts. It’s a like being in a dream state – drifting silently. He usually stays until he feels calmer, but Percy doesn’t feel spectacularly bad today or anything, and Thomas will wonder where he is.

By the time he swims back to shore, Hyale and Psekas have vanished, and Capheira – a regular – is settled on a smooth rock, weaving a basket. Percy waves over and she smiles distractedly, turning back to her work.

The sun is only beginning to dip when he surfaces, and the tide is rolling in, lapping at the wooden steps of Poseidon’s cabin. Percy wills the water off his skin and rescues his shirt from the encroaching waves, when he spots movement from the cabin. Thomas swings round the doorframe, looking around before he spots him. Percy represses the flutter in his chest when Thomas beams and hops down the first few steps to meet him.

“Hey!” Thomas yips.

“Hey! How was it?” Percy says, trying to ignore the way Thomas’ gaze flicks down and up his bare torso.

“Uh. Good. Good.” Thomas tucks a stray piece of hair behind his ear. “They didn’t bleed me again so, bonus, I guess.” He pauses, and looks over Percy again. “Hey, how come you aren’t wet?”

Feeling a little self-conscious, Percy reaches back to cup the back of his own neck, knowing exactly how good it makes his biceps look, and relishes in the shudder of victory when Thomas’ gaze takes a little longer to track back up to his face. “Son of Poseidon has its perks.”

“Definitely.” Thomas whispers distractedly, and then seems to shake himself mentally. “Um, yeah, that’s pretty cool.” Percy bites his lip to avoid smiling too widely. Instead, he takes Thomas’ hand – the one where his blood was taken – and bends down enough that he can put one of his own hands in the water lapping around his feet.

“Watch this,” he says, and concentrates. The water trickle up his arm, flows over his shoulders, and pools in Thomas’ palm.

“Wow,” Thomas murmurs, watching as his wound closes to a scratch, and then vanishes completely, “That’s incredible.”

“Not really, I mean, you should see the things Will and Lee have healed.” Percy winces. “Actually, you really, really shouldn’t.”

Thomas laughs a little at that, probably assuming Percy is joking. There’s a reason he hasn’t shown him to Clarisse yet.

“So,” Thomas says, “Is that party still on or…?”

“Oh! You want to go?”

“Yeah, you know, if you do. I don’t wanna like, make you go if you don’t want to.” Thomas babbles.

“No, no, it’s fine! Just let me get changed. Do you want to borrow some clothes or are you fine in that?”

Thomas looks at his own simple outfit of jeans and a Camp Half Blood t-shirt. “Can I borrow a shirt? I mean, if you have one that’ll fit.”

“Yeah, probably.” Percy rifles around in his wardrobe and tosses Thomas a couple of shirts that he outgrew. “Are those good?”

“Yeah, great, thanks. Anything is better than this, honestly.” Thomas says, gesturing at the orange fabric.

“Hey, don’t knock it!”

“You have the literal worst fashion sense, Percy.”

“Oh, okay, you can give me those back then.” Percy says, holding his hand out.

Thomas half-smiles. “I would rather go shirtless than wear this.”

Percy laughs and turns back to his closet, shaking his head. “I don’t think anyone would complain.” He finds some scrunched jeans on the floor and digs around for a shirt.

“Would you?” Thomas says lightly, like he’s joking, but his eyes are dark and focused.

“No, but the mosquitoes would rejoice.” Percy claps Thomas firmly on the shoulder. “I’m gonna get changed in the bathroom, okay?”

Thomas ducks his head. “Yeah. I’ll be out here.”

Percy struggles into his t-shirt, attempts to flatten his hair, and is out in under a minute. Thomas, looking nice in a simple white shirt with a palm tree emblazoned on the front, brushes his teeth and they’re good to go. Demeter’s cabin is a little walk away, and though they aren’t talking, it’s a comfortable silence.

“So,” Thomas says, clambering over a log, “Are you and Jason, uh. Dating?”

“No,” Percy hums. “Uh, well, I mean, he’s my best friend, but we’re like, I dunno? We’re just, um, me and Jason, y’know?”

Thomas nods carefully. “Okay. I think I understand.”

Percy smiles – relieved. That’s a weight off his chest – Percy doesn’t like lying to people, well, not that he was lying to Thomas, but still. Not being entirely truthful, or whatever.

So, of course, that’s when he trips over a tree root, lashes out for balance, and punches Thomas in the face.

“Ow! Jesus dude, what the hell?” Thomas’ hand flies up to cover his cheek and jaw.

“Holy shit, I’m so sorry! Let me see, okay?” Percy – very gently – covers Thomas’ hand with his own. Thomas almost looks scared, but he lets Percy start to pull his hand away.

“Ow, ow.” Thomas jerks his head away. “Don’t press on it!” There’s a thin stream of blood trickling over Thomas’ hand, pooling in between his fingers.

“Thomas, you’re bleeding.”

“I fucking know, you busted my lip. No, nope,” he growls, slapping Percy’s hands away, “Keep you hands out of it.”

“Is it really bad?” Thomas looks at him disbelievingly.

“No, it’s fine! Do you wanna see, because I can feel it bruising!” Thomas lifts his hand off, to reveal reddened and raw skin, and then clamps it back down. “You planning on doing that water thing, or…?”

“Oh my god, that looks sore.” Thomas raises his eyebrows. “Uh, well, obviously. Can you walk?”

“No. I can’t, the pain in my face is directly connected to my feet. Of course I can walk.” He snaps.

Percy winces at the glare Thomas is levelling at him. “Apollo’s cabin is probably closer than the water, we can get someone to heal you. They’re definitely better than I am, c’mon.”

Thomas nods sharply, and then winces. There’s blood staining his teeth and Percy feels awful. He keeps on forgetting that Thomas isn’t as physically strong as him – forgets that he can’t just play with him like he can with Jason.¬

“I’m really sorry, Thomas.” Percy wants to touch him, but Thomas looks seriously angry and a little bit wild with the blood dripping over his chin, so he keeps his hands to himself.

“Yeah, but this does really hurt, dude. Can you watch the strength around my head area?” he says, vaguely waving at his own face with the hand not prodding cautiously at his darkening jaw. “And any other sensitive places, thanks.”

“I promise not to punch you in the dick.” Percy smiles, and Thomas snickers lightly. The movement spreads his mouth and a fresh blurt of blood bubbles up. Thomas turns and spits into the grass.

“Lead the way.”

# # #

“Holy cow,” Will yelps, cradling Thomas’ face, “What the hell have you done this time?”

Percy holds up his hands. “Look, it was an accident, it isn’t as bad as it looks.”

Thomas spits out more blood. "It's exactly as bad as it looks. It might actually be worse." He pokes around with his tongue for a second and then triumphantly says, "He cracked my tooth!" Percy winces.

Will starts frantically ushering Thomas towards the golden archway of Apollo’s cabin, and would probably have picked him up and started running if he thought Thomas would allow it. “Of course, okay, come in, come in – watch the step – just sit down, I’ll be right back.” Percy follows them in, but barely gets a foot over the threshold before Will reappears in his face. “If you help me, can you promise to keep your flailing limbs to yourself?”

“How did you know?” Percy asks, surprised. Will looks at him.

“Because nearly every time we hang out you accidentally hit me in the face. I should thank you, actually, it’s really improving my reflexes. But yeah, all the older healers are already at Demeter’s, I mean, Tehrys is still here, but –“

“No, I totally understand, I’ll help.” Will smiles and pulls on one of his curls until it’s straight, and then allows it to ping back into place, something he does when he’s pleased.

“Thanks a bunch, Percy, you have no idea what it’s been like since Clarisse got back. Maiming has been up like, 200%. I mean, with Austin and Amil antagonising Ares cabin I’m up to my gills in it, honestly."

Percy laughs, which he immediately regrets when he steps through the doorway, and Will’s brother, Tehrys, is sprawled on the sofa next to Thomas.

Tehrys looks wicked, as per the norm, and he’s wearing his sunglasses indoors, which also isn’t unusual. Thomas, still smeared in blood, appears to be silently begging Percy, Will, or both to intervene.

“Will,” Tehrys drawls, “You didn’t say you were having guests over?” Will elects to intervene by getting Tehrys under the arms, dragging him off the sofa, and shoving him out the cabin door.

“Out! Out, go on.”

Tehrys squawks indignantly, and then the door is slammed in his face, muffling whatever he just shouted.

Will wrenches the door open again to yell, “Don’t bring a boy back!” before letting it swing closed and sweeping his hair out his face victoriously.

“What did he say to you?” Percy asks, a little cautiously.

“Nothing?” Thomas says, evidently confused. “He asked if it hurt.”

Percy is a little taken aback at that, but knowing Tehrys, he was probably gearing up to crack some kind of sick joke. “Oh.”

“Okay,” Will says, coming to crouch in front of Thomas, “Sorry about that. Can you open your mouth a little wider? Yeah, that’s good.” He’s using some sort of antibacterial gel on his hands. “Tilt your head – oh yeah, that’s cracked – Percy get out the way, you’re blocking the light.”

“Mmnfmmfm?” says Thomas.

“Alright, Thomas, this isn’t going to hurt, but it will feel warm – maybe hot. If it’s too much, raise your hand and I’ll stop, okay?”

“Mm-nm.”

“Cool, you can close your mouth.” Percy’s seen Will do this a thousand times, but it’s still pretty neat every time. He touches his glowing fingertips to Thomas’ split lip, and the light diffuses, settling along Thomas’ jawline. There’s a slight ‘click’ and Thomas looks a little panicked, and then it’s done.

“Better?” Will beams.

Thomas feels around and then nods. “I think so.”

“Okay, let me see?” Thomas lets Will move his head around. “Yeah, looks good. I think we’re done here. Percy, can you get the blood off him and I’ll do the externals?”

Incredulous, Percy asks, “Is that all you wanted me for?”

Will shrugs. “This is a new shirt. I didn’t want to get blood on it. Oh, that reminds me! Thomas, I’ll go grab you one. You got any colour preferences?”

“Nah, anything’s good.”

“Cool, cool. Towels and stuff are there, Percy. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Once Will turns the corner, Percy growls, “Can you believe that guy?”

“I still can’t believe you slapped me so hard I cracked a tooth, but okay.”

“Look, it would’ve only stunned a demigod –“

Thomas turns to face him sharply. “Oh, so it’s my fault that you don’t know how to control yourself? Look, just stop talking about it, alright?” When Percy looks away, admonished, Thomas sighs. “Can you just start wiping the blood off me and we’ll call it quits?”

Percy nods, dunking a towel in the nearby bowl of water set aside for the purpose. “Can you look at me?” Thomas lifts his chin defiantly, but lets Percy guide him until his head is tipped to the desired angle. Percy starts wiping away the drying blood that was running from Thomas’ nose and mouth. It comes off easily enough, but then Percy gets to cleaning off the bruise on his jawline. He’s focusing on being gentle so intently, that when he looks up, Thomas’ face is incredibly close to his own. He pauses. This close, he can see how heavy Thomas’ gaze is; the spread of his eyelashes; the rise and fall of his chest. Percy could kiss him. He could do it so easily. He could just lean in now and touch their mouths together and the back-and-forth game they’ve been playing for the last three days will finally be over. Percy feels caught under the weight of Thomas’ eyes, and then Thomas is leaning in, mouth red and wet.

“Hey, Thomas, I think I got you a – whoa.” Percy whips back so fast that he overbalances and falls off the sofa, knocking over the sidetable and spilling water and handtowels all over the floor.

“Sorry, sorry – I’ve got it,” he says as he rights the table. Will throws the t-shirt on the couch and starts putting the towels in the bowl.

“Can you do something about the water? I’ve got this.” Will sounds sincere, but Percy has known him for long enough that it’s obvious that he’s trying not to laugh. Thomas is bright red – mortified by the look of him – and Percy doubts that he looks much better. He stoops low to hide his face and encourages the spilt water to seep down through cracks in the tiled floor and into the earth. By the time the last of the water has vanished, Will is knelt next to Thomas with crystals in hand.

“What are those for?” bypasses his brain completely on the way out, and Thomas looks a little more fearfully at the rocks. Realising his mistake, Percy tries to backtrack. “You aren’t becoming a faith healer, are you?”

Will gives him an exceptionally cold look. Thomas glances between them with increasing trepidation, before Will settles a calming hand on his knee. “Don’t worry,” he soothes, “It’s just to concentrate on what I want to heal, so I don’t expend as much energy.” Thomas nods cautiously, and smiles at Percy over Will’s shoulder. The crystals clatter in Will’s palm as he digs around for the right one, muttering under his breath. “Damn, he’s made off with the rose quartz again. It’s okay though,” he says, “Amethyst works just fine for bruises and cuts. Hold still.”

They watch as Will places the other stones aside and lifts a battered looking purple shard to his mouth – hands cupped loosely around it. He whispers something that Percy doesn’t catch, and it seems like nothing happened for a long moment. Percy is about to start asking annoying questions when light peeks between Will’s fingers. Will nods and abruptly stands, letting go. The amethyst hovers eerily, spinning slowly while light pours from it. Thomas is watching it keenly as it drifts closer to his face, coming to settle against his jawline. It glows a little more brightly for a second and then dims completely, falling into Thomas’s lap. The bruise has vanished.

“Hey, nice!” Thomas says, working his jaw curiously. Will grins.

“Yeah, pretty cool, huh? Hey, you guys mind if I walk down with you?”

Percy rolls his eyes. “No dude. You can’t.”

“Too bad, Jackson.” Will laughs – bumps shoulders with him while Thomas pulls Percy’s bloody shirt off and reaches for the clean one. “Guess you’re stuck with me.”

“Could be worse. Could be Tehrys.” Percy jokes.

Will frowns. “He’s still my brother, dude. Lay off.”

“Sorry, just – y’know.”

Will snorts. “Trust me, I know. Clarisse is threatening war if I can’t keep the three of them out of Ares’ cabin. Amil isn’t so bad, but man, I swear Tehrys and Austin are aggravating them on purpose now that they know I’m in trouble. Lee is at boiling point. He threw a keyboard through the wall yesterday. I’m starting to realise why Michael never came back.”

Percy winces. Clarisse doesn’t make fake threats. “Man, that sucks. You alright?”

Will shrugs. “Well, Clarisse is gonna go for Lee before me, so I reckon I’ve got time to run.” Percy laughs loudly, and Will shoves him. “You laugh now, but once she’s done with me, she’ll inevitably turn on you. Remember, you’re a conspirator.”

“I’ll just hide out in the ocean until the screaming stops.”

“Okay, don’t even offer to help me, just wait it out. You coward.”

“Yeah, yeah. All for none and me for me. Hey, Thomas, you ready?”

“Yeah.” Thomas wearing what Percy assumes is one of Will’s younger brother’s shirts, and it looks nice. Like, really nice. Percy’s so used to seeing Thomas in clothes that are too big for him that he forgets that Thomas is actually, well, defined. Percy tracks his gaze up to Thomas’ face, who raises his eyebrows at Percy. Will coughs. “Are we going?” Thomas asks.

“Uh, yeah, let’s go.” Percy blurts. He holds the door open for Thomas and Will, because it’s made out of solid gold and he’s seen demigods struggle to open it, and he doesn’t want Thomas to feel more out of place than he already does. The moment the door swings closed behind them, the pulse of music from Demeter’s cabin is instantly obvious. It’s that kind of party, then.

Will makes a face. “I’m getting the feeling I’ll be spending most of tonight holding back my siblings’ hair.”

“They’ll do fine without you for one night, Will. Let go.”

“Okay, but when it all goes to hell, I’m blaming you.” Will grins, reaching up to play with his curls. Percy is aware that he’s smiling like an idiot but he can’t bring himself to care. He hasn’t really hung out with Will since he was put on dawn patrol for the week – time usually spent in the ocean with Will on his board and Percy trying to knock him off.

Percy turns to check on Thomas, finding him smiling sort of vaguely at the surrounding environment. Will’s healing usually leaves people feeling a bit dopey for a few minutes, so Percy figures he’s fine.

They reach the rough path through the forest to Demeter’s cabin – earth beaten down and shaped by generations of demigod feet. Percy never likes walking through here, especially at night, because Hecate’s cabin lurks further into the woods and on a clear night the crooked, uneven windows look like unrelenting eyes. Not to mention the faint whispers the whole place gives off. Creepy.

Now, there’s light bouncing through the trees, but it’s the warm glow of fire. Percy is secretly a little glad the lasers haven’t been cracked out, because they made him feel a little like he’s having an out-of-body experience. The casual get-together vibe is more his thing, even if this is on a much larger scale. There are loads of demigods milling around. Some have set up a pseudo dancefloor with Vicky mixing and layering tracks from somebody’s iPod without making physical contact with the thing. What’s more impressive is that she’s doing it whilst dancing with a dryad. Will looks fondly at her.

“I’m gonna go check on them. I’ll see you around, no doubt. Hey,” Will points to the firepit, “Isn’t that Jason over there?”

It is Jason, and he’s got Leo in a headlock and is trying to wrestle something out of his hands. “Uh oh,” Percy says.

“Should he be allowed that close to the fire?” Will mumbles, and then shoves Percy forward a few steps.

“Hey, what?”

“You should probably get down there before Jason gets caught in whatever Valdez is planning.” Percy rolls his eyes at Will’s smirk.

“Fuck off,” he says – clambering down the slope to the fire. Thomas follows a little more gracefully. Jason looks up when they approach, and Leo waves with his free hand.

“Hey Percy!” he yells, despite his face being ground into the dirt.

“Hi Leo. What’s up?”

“Oh, you know, the usual. Trying to see how a – ow, bajate, cabrón – to see how an experiment would go. Needed an outdoor fire.”

“It’s a huge firework,” Jason grits out, “A huge, very explosive firework.”

“God, it’s like you won’t let me have fun anymore.” Jason hefts Leo’s arm a little higher, shaking him to make him let go. Leo yelps, scrambling on his knees for purchase.

“Hey, you’re hurting him!” Thomas cries. Percy looks around, surprised, from where he’s trying to pry the thing out of Leo’s grip.

“Yeah, you’re hurting me.” Leo says, muffled.

“You’ll get over it,” Jason growls. Percy tears the ‘firework’ – it looks more like a small grenade with a smiley face painted on one side than anything else – out of Leo’s clenched hand. Jason lets go nearly instantaneously, and Leo hops up, wiping dirt off of his face. He kicks Jason in the knee once he’s righted – ow, dude – and bounds over to Thomas, shaking his hand enthusiastically.

“Hey, so you’re the mortal everyone’s been talking about! Leo – Leo Valdez, demigod extraordinaire! Nice to meet you! It’s a shame you’ve been hanging around with this loser, I mean –“

“Leo –“ Percy tries.

“Poor company or what? He’s not exactly my level. So, you’re sure you’re a human, huh? No godly blood at all? No unnatural abilities? Hey, how’s your sword arm, you –“

“Leo!” Percy shouts, bodily getting between them. Thomas yanks his arm back like he’s been burned, which is entirely possible. “Man, cool it. Leave the poor guy alone.”

“It’s okay,” Thomas says, “I don’t mind.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t mind, back off. So, what’s your name? Where’re you from?”

“I’m Thomas. I don’t really want to talk about it. What can you do?” he replies easily. Percy crosses his arms but steps out of the conversation regardless. Thomas can handle himself quite easily.

“So,” Jason starts, “What took you so long to show up?” Percy winces.

“You know how Will is really, really good at healing people? Yeah, well-“

“No,” Jason breathes, “Tell me you didn’t.”

“Yeah and – stop smiling – I forgot about the whole ‘super-strength compared to humans’ thing and, yeah, I broke his tooth.”

“Holy shit,” Jason whispers, “He’s still hanging out with you? Really?” Percy shrugs. “Hey, guys, me and Percy are gonna go grab some drinks, okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Thomas says distractedly, crouched on the ground with Leo and watching him build something.

As they walk off, Percy asks, “Hey, what am I supposed to do with this?” holding up the firework.

“Who cares about that, Percy?” Jason snaps lowly, “You broke the man’s tooth and he’s still hanging out with you? Put two and two together, will you?”

“Jason!” Percy hisses, “Stay out of it!”

“Nah. So, you at least kissed him yet?” Percy glares, but Jason’s smug grin is unrelenting. The whole story comes spilling out before he can really think about it, and Jason listens intently all the way to Hermes’ cabin’s booze stash.

Jason looks a little stunned. “So, he was going for it and then you launched yourself over the back of a sofa? Sounds like you.”

“I didn’t want to kiss him like, right there in front of Will. Would’ve been weird.”

“You’ve done more than kissing in Will’s presence,” Jason points out.

“Yeah, well, I don’t think Thomas would’ve appreciated it.”

“You never know,” Jason says, waggling his eyebrows. Percy huffs and shoves him.

“Well, at least we know that appearing dramatically from the surf – wet and shirtless – while the sun sets behind you is still working, then.” Jason giggles, dancing out of reach as Percy swipes at him. “Did you do the bicep thing?”

“Shut up.”

Jason bites his lip against laughter but does shut up - thank the Gods - Percy thinks. They grab a mixture of soft drinks and alcohol, and on the way back Percy tosses Leo’s homemade firework deep into the woods. He belatedly hopes no nymphs get curious.

Thomas sits up and waves when they come back into view, and Percy does a sort of awkward shoulder bob in return lest he drop a Sprite.

“Hey!” Thomas smiles, “What have you got?”

Percy kneels carefully, splaying the drinks on the cool grass. “I didn’t know what you’d like, so I got a mix.”

“Um,” Thomas starts, picking up a can of Fanta and examining it, “I don’t really know what these are?”

Leo leans in and snatches the can out of his hand, cracking it open and taking a long drink. He seems totally unaware that everyone is frowning at him. “Well, this one is orange, that’s lemonade – you know lemonade, right?” He says, rolling over a Sprite. “This is Coke – gods, how do you explain Coke? And this is Percy’s usual filth, Cherry Coke – disgusting.” Percy catches the can as Leo lobs it at him.

“Thanks, Leo,” Percy drawls, “We can’t all have my great taste.” Thomas snorts. “Oh, fine, I was gonna offer you some, but you can forget it.” He holds the can away from Thomas, who laughs and playfully reaches for it. Across the circle, Jason raises his eyebrows, but Percy pointedly ignores him.

“Okay, you can try some.” Percy pops the tab and passes it over. Thomas takes a small sip, waits a second, and then screws up his face in disgust, nearly throwing the can back.

“Ugh,” he coughs, “That is vile, what the hell?”

“Told you,” Leo says.

“It’s good!”

“No,” Jason calls, “It isn’t.”

Percy shrugs, “More for me then.”

“Thomas, I got some other drinks too, if you want one.” Jason deposits his load onto the lawn between them. “There’s beer-"

“I think I’ll just have a beer,” says Thomas. “This is beer, right?”

Leo crinkles his nose as Thomas takes a swig. “You two are equally as disgusting. You should get married and have disgusting children. So long as you keep your filthy habits away from me, we’re cool.”

Thomas laughs into his beer, “No, thanks. I’ve seen how messy his cabin is, I couldn’t bear it.”

“Hey!” Percy cries, then pauses. “Actually that is kinda true.” They all laugh a bit at that, and it’s nice; companionable. The spot that they’ve claimed is far enough from the bulk of the party that no one is going to step on them, but the music is still audible. Percy can’t help but notice how much more at ease Thomas looks under the light of the fire, chatting easily with Jason and Leo. Thomas catches Percy looking at him a couple of times, smiling gently when Percy pretends to be looking at something over his shoulder. It’s embarrassing, and Percy is well aware that he’s acting like a teenager (he’s twenty, cut him some slack) but gods, Thomas is good-looking, and he tried to kiss Percy, not the other way round. It’s a real thrill, and Percy hasn’t felt this childish since he was fifteen and initiating footsie with Nico under the table.

“Percy! You made it!” Miranda pipes, flopping down between him and Jason.

“Hey, Andy,” Jason beams, holding his hand out for a fist bump, “You were sick on the field out there.”

“Thanks!” She turns her gaze on Thomas, “So, this who I think it is?”

Thomas leans in to shake hands eagerly. “I’m Thomas. The human.”

“Hey, nice! You having an alright time? You see the game earlier?”

“Yeah, I did! The trick with the vines? That was so neat.”

Miranda dips her head bashfully, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, well, nothing like kicking Tyche’s pretentious butts, am I right?”

Thomas laughs, “I wouldn’t know. I’m trying not to fight anyone.”

“You bring Reilly?” Percy interrupts.

Miranda squints, “Nah, she’s a bit young, y’know? Plus, get this, Katie was out weeding the borders this morning, and a freaking coke can comes out of nowhere and smacks her right between the eyes! I mean, Lee healed her, but she wasn’t up to coming so she’s sitting for the kids. Man, just when you think this place can’t get weirder.”

“Yeah,” Percy says, thinking of Dionysus’ tantrum, “Weird.”

“Anyway, just came to snag a Sprite,” she yips, pulling one from the pile. “See you cats around!”

“Bye!” Jason calls. Miranda scampers off into the crowd, high-fives someone from her cabin, and is gone from view. Percy smiles into his Coke; Miranda really is high-octane, like jet fuel. Or acid. Speaking of energy highs, Leo hasn’t said a word.

“Leo?” Percy says, nudging him, “You alright, dude?”

“Huh? Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking.”

Jason grins. “Wow. You? Capable of sentient thought? Who knew?”

“Screw you,” Leo drawls, “If I’m only gonna be insulted here, I’m gonna hit the floor.” Leo stands, exaggeratedly shaking his shoulders. “Who’s coming with me?”

“Yeah, I’ll go,” Jason starts, “You guys wanna come?” Percy looks at Thomas, who shrugs.

“Okay,” he nods.

# # #

“Oh my god,” Thomas pants, “I need to sit down.”

“Tired already?” Leo yells, half-sandwiched between Jason and Miranda, who are holding hands and playfully spinning around him. Thomas puts his hands on his knees and breathes.

“Mortal, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Leo mocks, “Excuses, excuses.” Thomas flips him the bird.

Percy rolls his eyes, “C’mon Thomas, I need a drink anyway.”

“Yeah, same,” Jason chimes, “I’ll come too.” Percy shoots him a look, because he knows Jason, and there’s no way he’s not going to try something. Jason smiles and winks, before Thomas straightens and bumps his hand up against Percy’s wrist.

“Let’s go.”

They find their spot from earlier undisturbed, and Thomas immediately drops down to lay flat on the grass, arms over his head. The movement makes his shirt ride up, and Percy hates himself for it, but wow – Thomas has really nice abs, and Percy follows the dark line of his happy trail down – down.

Jason stomps hard on his foot.

“Ow!”

Thomas sits up, “You okay, Percy?”

“Yeah, fine,” Percy grunts, “Got a cramp.”

Thomas squints at him, but lays down again regardless. Percy sits, glaring at Jason. Jason raises his eyebrows and lifts one shoulder apologetically, tossing Percy another Cherry Coke. He accepts it grudgingly.

“You want a drink, Thomas?” Jason asks.

“Yeah,” he says, rolling over onto his front. He grabs another beer and kicks his feet up behind him, swinging them back and forth idly. Thomas has a quick sip and turns to Jason. “So, who’s kid are you?”

“Zeus.” Jason answers, picking out some sort of fruity alcoholic drink.

“Oh. Which one is he, again?” he says curiously.

Jason looks surprised for a second, and then seems to smile at his own reaction. “Um, well, he’s the big guy – King of the Gods.”

Thomas breaks out into an excited smile. “So you’re like, a prince?”

Percy starts laughing until Jason drives an elbow into his side. “That’s not really how it works. He has a lot of full-God kids, and I’m only half, y’know?” he explains.

“Okay,” Thomas says. “What can you do, then?”

“Um, I can fly,” Jason hums, pleased that he’s getting attention. “Make storms and lightning – that’s hard though, it tires me out.”

“Oh, I can only make lightning – it’s not that cool,” Percy scoffs. “Man, take some credit – it’s amazing,” he adds. “Show him.”

“So demanding,” Jason grins, put spreads his fingers regardless. White-blue electricity sparks and dances from finger to finger, splaying between them like a spider web.

“Wow,” Thomas breathes, “Cool.”

Percy smiles at his excitement. “Yeah, you say that now. Wait until he starts tasing you when you least expect it, because its ‘funny’,” he says, making air-quotes.

Thomas laughs, “That does actually sound pretty funny.” Percy shoves him, but gently, wary of their earlier accident.

“Careful, no unnecessary injuries tonight, remember?” Comes from behind him.

Thomas grins widely as Percy spins round, “Hey, Will. ‘Sup?”

“Not much – hey, this is Victoria.” Vicky waves over his shoulder, smiling. Thomas nods pleasantly.

“Yeah, we’ve met. I’m Thomas.”

She laughs, “I know. This is Austin,” she gestures to her brother, who smiles a little distractedly. Percy grins at how Will subconsciously shifts so he’s standing between Austin and Thomas, but then again, Percy doesn’t blame him.

“So, Solace,” Jason says. Percy is immediately suspicious. Jason only uses last names when he’s up to something. “You still up for truth or dare?” His voice drops, “Like we were discussing earlier?”

“What?” Will starts, and then, “Oh! Oh, yeah, sure, I’m really excited about that, love it.” Behind Will, Austin puts a hand over his face and shakes his head. “Where’s Leo, is he, uh, joining us?” Will falters a bit as he locks gazes with Percy, who is frantically dragging his thumb across his throat and baring his teeth, but whips his hand away and smiles when Thomas rolls to look at him.

“How do you play?” Thomas asks, and Percy feels like dying.

“I’ll go get Leo,” he declares, restraining himself to a walk until he’s out of view, and then sprinting to the dancefloor. Leo is entangled with Miranda and a few other campers, and he yells and waves when he spots Percy.

“Oye, guey, que haces? Come dance, Percy, c’mon. Dance with me,” he chatters, fingers curled playfully in Percy’s beltloops, dragging him towards Miranda.

“No – no, Leo, wait. Wait. Did you agree to this stupid plot to get me and Thomas together?”

“What?” Leo blurts. “They didn’t let me in on it?” He gasps sharply, making Percy jump. “Is that what Aubrey was talking about? Is he part of this?”

“Aubrey?” He says, confused. “Oh! You mean Austin. Listen, Leo-“

“That pendejo! Who does he – who does he think he is, anyway?”

“Are you drunk?” Percy asks, a little nervously, because Leo is shaking his fists and yelling at air.

“No, I’m just angry,” Leo snarls. “Thinks he can become number one matchmaking mastermind on my watch, does he? And anyway,” he continues, “It makes me feel slow, don’t like it. And,” Leo points knowledgably at the sky, “Fire and alcohol don’t mix, Percy, that’s like – grade one stuff.”

“Grade one kids shouldn’t be learning about – never mind. Anyway, I need you to ruin this game of truth or dare for me – throw up on someone – anything.”

“I can’t be sick on command anymore,” Leo sighs. “Turns out it wasn’t good for me and Jeremy forcibly healed my stomach lining. I know, it’s pretty upsetting. Don’t worry though, I’ve got backups.”

“Ooh,” Miranda coos, manifesting silently, “Truth or dare, love that game! I’ll grab a bottle, be right back.”

“Bring friends!” Leo shouts. Percy feels the first stirrings of a huge amount of regret.

“Why do you even hate him?” Leo whips round to look at Percy, eyes bright with emotion. “You know what, never mind, I really, really do not-”

“Well,” Leo says, “It all started when –“

“Got the bottle!” Miranda chirps, “And friends, let’s go!” Percy recognises Jeremy from Apollo’s cabin, a couple of Aphrodite’s kids, and Malcolm, who looks like he’s been roped into this. Vined, Percy thinks, and then winces at his own joke.

“Jeremy.” Leo greets stiffly.

“Hey, Leo! You still being sick?” the tall boy asks, concerned.

“No,” he says mournfully.

“That’s great!” Jeremy beams. “Hi, Percy, you haven’t seen Tehrys, have you?”

“No,” Percy says, feeling a little panicked, “Should I have?”

Jeremy shrugs, “I dunno, he’ll turn up, I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, yeah, he’ll be fine” Percy mumbles.

“Hurry up, Percy!” Leo yells, jogging backwards with Miranda sitting on his shoulders. Percy smiles despite himself.

“Coming!” he cries, running to catch up with them.

Thomas looks a little unnerved when he sees the gang of people Percy has with him, but calms when Percy sits close by him – thighs pressed together and shoulders knocking occasionally. Jason smirks from across the circle as he leans in to spin the bottle, and Percy nudges Thomas conspiratorially.

“Hey,” he whispers, leaning in close, “We don’t have to play if you don’t want to, I don’t mind leaving." Thomas smiles and ducks his head slightly. Their faces are so close that Percy could count the smattering of freckles around Thomas’ mouth and jaw. He’s so pretty. Percy bites his lip.

“No, it’s okay,” Thomas mumbles, fingers brushing over Percy’s wrist. “I’m curious.” Percy gets the feeling that Thomas isn’t really talking about the game anymore. He’s so focused on the rhythmic stoke of Thomas’ fingers over his pulse point – burning trails across his skin – that he barely notices their surrounds until Miranda cheers as the bottle lands on her.

“Truth or dare?” Jason asks.

“Hmm,” Miranda drawls, pretending to think about it, “Truth!”

“What’s the strangest dream you’ve ever had?” Percy internally breathes a sigh of relief that Jason hasn’t just dived in with something deeply inappropriate, and therefore interesting, and seems to be easing everyone in. Miranda launches into a dramatic tale about some boyband and Percy allows himself to zone out, quietly enjoying the heat he can feel radiating off Thomas and the areas where they’re pressed together. When Miranda finishes, Jason nods, satisfied.

She reaches to spin, giggling when it lands on Austin. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” Austin says, with an air of finality. Will shoots him a look from across the circle.

“I dare you to sit on Jeremy’s lap for the next two turns.” Austin shrugs, crawling to sit in between his brother’s legs. Jeremy immediately wraps his arms around his waist, holding him securely, while Austin pats his brother’s arm affectionately, before leaning in to grasp the bottle. It lands on Jason.

“Truth or dare?”

Jason smiles cockily. “Dare,” he taunts.

Austin bites his lip slowly, and then says, “I dare you to dare your shirt off.”

“Austin!” Will yelps, affronted. The girls from Cabin Ten coo and giggle, and Thomas goes tense against Percy’s side. Jason just wiggles his eyebrows – smirking, and strips it off with way more ab involvement than is necessary. Percy rolls his eyes and spots Will doing the same.

“Nice”, Austin grins. Will kicks out at him. Austin doesn’t even flinch, knowing that it isn’t going to connect. Percy watches Jeremy try not to laugh.

Completely unphased, Jason spins. Percy tracks the bottle eagerly, and whistles when it lands on Carla, daughter of Aphrodite. Her sister nudges her companionably with an elbow. Carla smiles gently. “Truth,” she says.

“Who’s the hottest person in camp?” he asks. There is a collective groan. Carla regards him with cold eyes.

“Well, if we’re gonna get technical, Nyssa has the highest body temperature,” she says, and then takes a slow sip from her champagne flute. Jason scowls. Leo nods and smiles into his Sprite, impressed. Carla tosses her hair and spins the bottle with manicured fingers. It spins and spins, slowing gradually, and eventually settles between Leo and Percy. Carla squints at it, and then looks to her sister.

“What’s the call?” Her sister shrugs, but Miranda leans in, peering at the bottle.

“It’s leaning on more grass closer to Percy, I think.” Leo sighs, frustrated. Percy can’t help but wonder when Leo is going to make good on his promise to intervene somehow when he meets Carla’s eyes, and there is no good in them, like, at all.

Carla nods, turning to smile at Miranda, like her day has been made. “Okay, Percy! Truth or dare,” she chirps, leaning forward, hands on knees.

“Truth,” he blurts, hoping it’s the safer option. Judging by the look on Carla’s face, it wasn’t.

“Hmm,” she blinks, tapping one cherry red nail on her chin as she speaks, “Do you have non-platonic feelings for anyone in this circle?”

Percy looks for Jason reflexively, realising his mistake when literally everyone, including Thomas, watches him do it. Leo and Will smile at him, and Jason ducks his head, blushing. There’s a few people Percy has distinctly not platonic feelings for sitting in the circle.

“Yes,” he says. Carla’s mouth curls up slightly in the corners, and she leans back, satisfied. Percy tries not to look at Thomas, because he knows that he won’t understand and he doesn’t want to see the look on his face. Instead, who looks at Leo, trying to convey that he’s been let down through eyebrows alone. Leo looks startled then confused, and then seems to realise that it was the moment he was supposed to intervene. Percy’s mad now, and spins the bottle a little more viciously than intended, sending it skidding slightly off-centre. It lands on Leo. Oh, revenge.

“Truth or dare?” Percy asks, candy sweet.

“Uh, dare?” Leo says, hesitantly.

Big mistake.

Percy pretends to think about it, looking up at the starry sky. He can feel Leo’s fearful gaze on him. “I dare you,” he starts, slowly – relishing it. Leo narrows his eyes, waiting. “To take off Austin’s shoe.”

Leo looks at him with raw hate, but walks to Austin anyway. Austin looks confused, but not like he hates Leo, or anything. Leo reaches for Austin’s left shoe, clearly intent on tearing it off, when Percy says, “I wasn’t finished.” Leo turns slowly, and puts on hand on his hip, mouth thinned to a narrow line.

“Yes?” he growls.

“You have to take it off with your teeth,” Percy smiles.

“Gross, dude!” Jason cries. Leo looks like he would dearly love to leap across the circle and start strangling him. Percy keeps grinning brightly, even as Thomas laughs into his shoulder – hair tickling his neck.

It feels really good to watch Leo drop to his knees and start plucking at the laces of Austin’s shoe with his teeth, but Carla and her sister just roll their eyes and talk amongst themselves while it happens. Vicky, Miranda and Will do the same. Austin is pointedly not looking at Leo, eyebrows drawn together like some sort of plead, and he’s holding his foot off the ground to make it easier for Leo to untie the laces. It doesn’t look like he hates Leo at all, and Percy looks at how he’s sitting, entire body angled away, wondering why in the hell Leo would hate him so much.

Leo manages to tug the shoe off, and immediately downs half of his Sprite, gargling and spitting into the grass.

“I hate you,” he growls at Percy, who grins. Leo skulks back to his spot and spins angrily, watching the bottle with fierce eyes. It’s surprising the bottle doesn’t explode or burst into flames under the intensity of his gaze – Leo made a wine decanter superheat and shatter last time Mr. D yelled at him – but everyone is very tense by the time it spins to rest on Vicky.

“Truth,” she says hastily, before Leo can even open his mouth. He frowns a little.

“If you had to date someone here, who would it be?”

“Miranda,” Vicky shrugs, “She’s cool.”

“Nice!” Miranda chirps, high-fiving Vicky over Will’s head. There’s a smattering of laughter, and Percy turns to look at Thomas – checking on him. He’s smiling wildly, looking happier than he has since he turned up. The glow of the fire makes him look otherworldly – unreal – and Percy feels a jolt in his chest when Thomas looks at him, still grinning. Their noses brush, and Percy realises they’re still pressed together, the heat of Thomas’ body bleeding against Percy’s side and the weight of his hand resting against Percy’s wrist. There is no use denying it, they’re very close to full-on snuggling. Thomas isn’t that tall – Percy guesses that he’s around 5’7 to his own 6’2 – and he fits against Percy like he’s meant to be there.

Percy smiles back and looks away quickly as Jason says, “Get on with it, Vicky,” faux-angrily. She knocks her shoulder against his playfully, but reaches to spin regardless.  
It lands on Thomas.

“Truth or dare?” Vicky asks, smiling kindly. Percy is so glad that it was her spin that got Thomas, especially after seeing the look of disappointment on Jason’s face. Not that he would do anything cruel or hurtful, but Percy has been on the receiving end of Jason’s plans more than once and knows exactly how well they tend to go.

“Truth,” Thomas says, moving his hand away from Percy’s. He misses the heat of it immediately, skin cold without Thomas’ fingers resting against his pulse point.

Vicky thinks for a moment, idly playing with her dark ponytail. Thomas looks calm, not at all like he feels forced to participate, and he tugs his knees up to his chest and rests his chin on them, waiting patiently.

“Hmm,” Vicky says. “What are you most attracted to? Like, uh, personality traits or like, physical stuff. Like if you had to choose one thing.”

Thomas squints, thinking. “I think, uh. I’d have to really trust someone. So, being able to trust them? Oh, and they’d have to be able to make me laugh too, but trust is probably more important.”

“Shit, dude,” Austin says, “You could’ve just said ‘tits’.”

Everyone laughs, though Carla and her sister do raise their eyebrows at each other. Thomas reaches to spin, and Percy feels a near overwhelming wave of calm pass over him, knowing that it’s gonna be alright.

# # #

In the end, the party ends somewhat dramatically when a dryad – sulkily patrolling the edge of the forest and daring the demigods to make a mess – comes across Leo’s firework, and, angry that rubbish has been dumped in her part of the woods again, kicks it forcefully. It sails about fifty feet, and by divine chance, lands directly in the fire.

There is a colossal explosion, but no heat or shrapnel accompanies it, and then the night sky is full of glittering colour. Blues, greens and sharp, shimmering gold pierces the dark, and everyone stops to look, oohing and aahing. Leo has enough time to whoop ecstatically before everyone is demanding that he empty his pockets.

In the ensuing argument and scuffle, nobody notices before it’s too late.

“What are you doing?” booms across the meadow. Austin gets such a fright he conjures a shield from thin air. Dionysus, clad in silk leopard print pyjamas and mismatched slippers stands atop the hill. He casts a disdainful look upon the spitting firework, which fades and quiets immediately. The demigods are quiet, shuffling nervously together in packs. Someone turns off the last echoes of Lady Gaga’s ‘Pokerface’, and they are left in silence, with Mr. D bearing down on them.

“I tolerate a lot, you know,” he starts, “I let you get away with more than you deserve!” Percy sees Castor and Pollux ducking out of view into the trees and belatedly wishes he could do the same.

“Look,” he says, frustrated. He puts a hand over his bloodshot eyes and sighs. “I don’t have the time to reprimand every single one of you. Clean this up. Go to bed. I’ll come back in the morning to check.” He scans the crowd. “And no more fireworks.” Leo rolls his eyes.

Dionysus vanishes in a blink – soundlessly – like he was never there. “Holy shit,” says Thomas as the party starts to break up, murmuring turning to chatting amongst the demigods.

“Fuck that guy,” Leo grunts, pissed off, “Did you guys see that! That was amazing! It wasn’t supposed to – y’know,” he gestures widely above his head, nearly slapping Jason’s glasses off, “BOOM, yeah?”

“Thanks for the demonstration of moderate hubris, Leo,” Will says mildly, getting up and picking a few stray pieces of grass off his shorts, “I’m gonna go find my remaining siblings before I get barbecued by association.” Leo swipes at Will’s shin.

“I’d better go with him,” Vicky chimes in.

“Yeah,” Austin says, “Same. Uh, Jason, here’s your shirt.” Jason snatches it out of the air, beaming widely.

“Thanks dude.”

“Don’t worry about it. See you guys tomorrow, probably.”

Jason tugs his shirt over his head, seeming to not notice that it’s on backwards (like Percy is going to tell him), and then starts picking up the semi-contained scatter of cans and crisp packets littering the ground. Percy starts to help, but Jason waves him off.

“Don’t worry about it Percy, we can manage. It’s pretty late, you should probably take Thomas back,” he says, and Percy feels deeply suspicious about his grin – but hey, not cleaning, which, coincidentally, is one of Percy’s favourite things to do. Or not do, but whatever, he thinks.

“Okay,” Percy says, and he and Thomas quietly make their goodbyes.

# # #

“Wow,” Thomas says, bounding up the steps to Percy’s cabin, “I thought we were dead for sure.”

“Ugh, I know. It freaks the hell out of me when he just appears like that.”

Thomas laughs, sitting on the side of Percy’s bed and tugging his shoes off. “What time is it?”

“I dunno, midnight – one in the morning, I guess.” Percy says, trying to find his (rarely used) alarm clock. “You wanna stay up for longer or go to sleep?”

Thomas scrunches his face up in answer. “I’m pretty tired. Just let me go brush my teeth – my mouth tastes like, really sugary.”

“Cool, I’ll get changed while you’re in there.”

A couple of minutes later, Thomas knocks tentatively on the inside of the bathroom door and asks, “Am I good to come out yet?” Percy has changed into sweats, but can’t be bothered to change his shirt – it isn’t even dirty.

“Yeah,” he calls, smiling at Thomas when he reappears round the doorframe. “I’ll just use the bathroom – be right out. Oh, I left you some shorts and – yeah, them – on the bed.”

“Thanks,” Thomas says, picking up the pyjamas.

Thomas is sitting on the edge of Percy’s bed when he comes out the bathroom, plucking at a loose string on his oversized sleeve. Percy sits tentatively beside him, watching him carefully.

“Hey,” he says eventually, “You okay?”

“I had a really good time tonight,” Thomas mumbles.

“Oh,” Percy says, surprised. He doesn’t know what to do with his hands. He feels clumsy, too present.

“Yeah, like, a really good time.” Thomas looks up. His eyes are so wide, so open, and Percy feels like his chest is so full it’s going to split open. His hands are shaking.

“I-“ he says, and then Thomas kisses him.

It’s soft – fleeting, and Percy doesn’t realise that he has his eyes closed until Thomas pulls back. He looks different.

“Don’t tell me anything else about the camp or – or your dad, or the people here,” Thomas whispers.

“Thomas,” Percy says, “Are you okay?”

Thomas’ face crumples, and he’s crying.

“I just -,” Thomas sobs, “I want this to be like a dream.” He’s wailing kind of desperately. “Because – because I’ll have to go back, I know I’ll have to go back and I can’t do it I love it here so much I can’t forgive myself I-“

“Thomas-“

“I miss them so much,” he sobs, voice cracking, “I can’t pretend that this is fine. I don’t even know that you’re real!”

He pauses, swallows. He’s shaking. Percy’s face is wet, too.

“So, just. Don’t make it real, okay? I can’t do it. When I go back, I can’t – I can’t miss this.”

“Okay,” Percy says, upset at how his voice shakes. He doesn’t know what to do. “Let’s go to sleep.”

Thomas nods. He scuffs his hands over his face and just breaths for a second, and then crawls to his side of the bed.

They get under the covers together, and Percy turns the lights off.

# # #

Three hours later, Percy is staring at the back of Thomas’ head, telling himself that this isn’t his fault.

He doesn’t touch him.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr at tritonsvixen


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